The week my antique sewing machine tried to kill me

Last spring I spent five days restoring a 1917 Singer and on day three the presser foot flew off and hit my ceiling fan. I still have the dent in my floorboard from the needle breaking. Has anyone else had a vintage tool go rogue on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesley87310d ago

My pressure canner from the 1950s (you know, the kind that actually looks like a bomb) decided to blow its safety valve while I was canning beans. Hot steam and bean juice all over my kitchen ceiling. I still find little dried bean bits in weird places, like on top of the fridge. That was the day I learned vintage doesn't always mean "better built" - sometimes it just means "built to explode dramatically.

holly_craig11d ago

Got a good one for you. I used to laugh at people who treated old tools like they were dangerous. Figured they were just being dramatic or careless. Then I was restoring a 1940s table saw, had the blade guard off, and the belt snapped. Thing jumped three inches off the floor and sent a chunk of wood into my garage wall. I still have the scar on my knuckle where I grabbed for it. That machine sits in my shop now with a big red warning sticker. No more laughing from me.